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372 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 1, 2000
“A man's magic demonstrates what sort of person he is, what is held most deeply inside of him. There is no truer gauge of a man's character than the way in which he employs his strength, his power. I was not a murderer [...] I was Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. I was a wizard. Wizards control their power. They don't let it control them. And wizards don't use magic to kill people. They use it to discover, to protect, to mend, to help. Not to destroy.”I loved this book despite all its imperfections. Harry Dresden, a wisecracking, self-deprecating, Star Wars-references-dropping, never-knowing-when-to-shut-up, and unwaveringly good guy with a penchant for attracting trouble was someone I'd love to be friends with. I even forgave him the annoying and eyeroll-inducing case of old-fashioned chivalry towards women. Plus, his assistant is an erotica-obsessed formerly-evil spirit living in a skull - how can anyone not love that?
“Harry," Bob drawled, his eye lights flickering smugly, "what you know about women, I could juggle.”This book is a quick and delightfully pulpy read, modeling Harry's personality and adventures on the hardboiled crime noir detective stories with a generous helping of humor set against the paranormal background. It does not aspire to be life-changing or profound, it does not try to be the capital-L literature (that was an excuse to use my favorite Pratchett quote: "Susan hated Literature. She'd much prefer to read a good book."). All it does is take you on a fun and exciting ride, and that's what I love about it. Yes, sometimes it falls flat, or tries too hard, or gets a bit full of itself, but the feeling of sheer fun that Jim Butcher must have had while writing this story is palpable on each page, and it's awesome!
“Paranoid? Probably. But just because you're paranoid doesn't mean there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face.”This is a "freshman" book, and is not perfect, but it is nevertheless really good. Jim Butcher's narrative voice gets more confident and more polished as the series progresses, especially beginning with book 4. But it was enough to keep me completely engrossed in Harry Dresden's world and read eleven books of the series in a little over a week. I love the Chicago mystical world, I love the characters, I love the fast, even breakneck pace, I love the detective noir touch, I love Butcher's take on mythologies. I absolutely adore the wisecracking - to me, it never felt annoying, maybe because it's a big part of my own (I assume, completely charming) personality.
““You don't go walking into the proverbial lion's den lightly. You start with a good breakfast.”For all of that, I easily give it four stars. (I'd be tempted to call Harry Dresden my literary boyfriend, but as I learned from the sequels, nothing good can possibly come out of that).
“I don't want to live in a world where the strong rule and the weak cower. I'd rather make a place where things are a little quieter. Where trolls stay the hell under their bridges and where elves don't come swooping out to snatch children from their cradles. Where vampires respect the limits, and where the faeries mind their p's and q's. My name is Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. Conjure by it at your own risk. When things get strange, when what goes bump in the night flicks on the lights, when no one else can help you, give me a call. I'm in the book.”
I gestured toward the room. "Because you can't do something that bad without a whole lot of hate," I said. "Women are better at hating than men. They can focus it better, let it go better. Hell, witches are just plainmeaner than wizards. This feels like feminine vengeance of some kind to me."
She shook her head. "No, no. Nothing like that. That wasn't her style. She was sweet. A lot of girls get like—They get pretty jaded, Mr. Dresden. But it never really touched her. She made people feel better about themselves somehow." She looked away. "I could never do that. All I did was get them off."
“There is no truer gauge of a man's character than the way in which he employs his strength, his power.”
“I don't want to live in a world where the strong rule and the weak cower. I'd rather make a place where things are a little quieter.
“Where instinct fails, intellect must venture."
"It wasn't as though I was actually going to be doing any black magic, I told myself. I was just going to be figuring out how it was done. There was a difference. I was helping the police in an investigation, nothing more."
"Yeah, right. And maybe one of these days I'd go to an art museum and become well rounded."
“My name is Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden. Conjure by it at your own risk. When things get strange, when what goes bump in the night flicks on the lights, when no one else can help you, give me a call. I’m in the book.”
“Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean that there isn’t an invisible demon about to eat your face.”
"A man’s magic demonstrates what sort of person he is, what is held most deeply inside of him. There is no truer gauge of a man’s character than the way in which he employs his strength, his power.”